[LM24 Race] 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours Race Thread

[Adam43]

Alonso, from F1, should have got a penalty for that. It is not fair and not what we want in sportscar racing.

[Adam43]

Obviously that is a sarcastic way of saying “wooooohooooooooo”

[Akrapovic]

We'll have none of that in the sportscar forum thank you very much. We've not time for your F1 drivers. Apart from Jenson.

[Adam43]

I’m loving just the race sounds of that too. There are quite a few videos up like that with no commentary.

That linked video is jerky for me Although none of the others are and I’ve got a super connection.

[Aysedasi]

I took a lot of video this year (which will probably see the light of day about February/March next year.... ) but the best is standing at Arnage corner at about midnight on race night. The quality of the video itself is largely immaterial - it's the sound that gets me every time......


One of my favourite things is standing out the back of the circuit as the cars come out for qualifying, hearing them track all the way from Tertre Rouge. At Indianapolis this year, the blasted track commentator ruined the moment by babbling incessantly throughout, but at Mulsanne the following evening, it was dead silence apart from the cars. Magical.

[Adam43]

Wow. Something to look forward to in the new year.

[JHamilton]

Sorry this is only on facebook, but here is the Corvette brake change. This is why we want more open regs around pit stops and stint lengths. It might not make a difference but let's find out.

https://www.facebook.com/stefan.bend...type=2&theater

[Damian Baldi]

It's in spanish, Lopez explains how the race was, the rhythm of both cars and then a good moment when Fernando went into the Lopez interview to talk too. They know each other very well, when Alonso was in Renault, Lopez was the tester of the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYvh0FEMllo

[ederss7]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Borrowing from another site, here's a quote talking about the advantage that Audi Sport with the Audi R8 and in '03 the Bentley Speed 8 had over the nearest true full-on privateer effort:

"Audi/Bentley beat the top opposition car gaps of 24, 23, 16, 17 and 18 laps for the first 5 years. It didn't get close until Audi was using an outdated car that was further hampered by penalties for being outside the latest regulation."

So it can be argued that Audi Sport had at least as big an advantage over the privateers as Toyota this year. It also happened in the Porsche days, too. Like 1981 when the Porsche 936 beat the 2nd place Rondeau by nearly 15 laps. So it happens when you have 1, maybe 2, factory teams vs the privateers.

As to the Toyota, it's call it a low-high nose like what the Audi R8 and R10 had.

But that gap wasn't due to race pace, which wasn't that big as Toyota had this year. Toyota could lap 5/6 seconds faster than Rebellion. Plus, Rebellion spent 20 minutes longer than Toyota in the pits.
The biggest problem privateers had back then was reliability, not speed.
This year privateers didn't have speed nor reliability.

[Lagunaseca_4life]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Sorry this is only on facebook, but here is the Corvette brake change. This is why we want more open regs around pit stops and stint lengths. It might not make a difference but let's find out.

https://www.facebook.com/stefan.bend...type=2&theater

That's impressive,really efficient too.one guy takes off,other puts new on,buy the time first guy turns back around new brakes are on and he goes straight to connecting everything.i wonder how the caliper connects to and is held onto the steering knuckle.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Sorry this is only on facebook, but here is the Corvette brake change. This is why we want more open regs around pit stops and stint lengths. It might not make a difference but let's find out.

https://www.facebook.com/stefan.bend...type=2&theater

That's badass!

[Damian Baldi]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Sorry this is only on facebook, but here is the Corvette brake change. This is why we want more open regs around pit stops and stint lengths. It might not make a difference but let's find out.

https://www.facebook.com/stefan.bend...type=2&theater

Amazing fast change! I remember to see this brake disk change method at Daytona with the DPs.

Thanks for sharing it.

[carbsmith]

Originally Posted by ederss7

But that gap wasn't due to race pace, which wasn't that big as Toyota had this year. Toyota could lap 5/6 seconds faster than Rebellion.

Toyota was not lapping 5s/lap faster in clean air. According to the lap averages posted earlier in the thread it was 2.5-3s. Which is if anything less than the gap Audi had on the field with the R8.

You obviously don't remember how utterly crushing 2000 was when everyone who wasn't an Audi fan had to pray for something to happen to them to stop a cruise to 1-2-3, then when they go and do their 5 minute gearbox changes and barely even lost any of their lead.

[GasperG]

Originally Posted by bobec

The difference for me is that Audi showed up with a brand new car and concept in 2000, not a perfected car with a technological advantage (hybrid). Also, there was at least some manufacturer-backed competition - Cadillac, Bentley, Panoz..

EOT was set so that hybrid was no big advantage, the only problem for privateers was the lack of time to develop the cars (performance + reliability). Next year we will see even lower EOT numbers for privateers and we'll be wondering what the hell were they doing this year with all those fuel thrown at them

[Steve McQ]

Fastest lap times do not tell the full story, we should look at laptimes with traffic but no yellow or slow-zone.

Remember the days of P2/DP in the IMSA championship from 2014 to 2016. P2s and DPs were on par in qualifying runs or on clear laps, however the torque advantage of DPs made it almost impossible to beat in race pace for P2s : it could slice into traffic quite easily and bang out of corners faster.

It's quite the same now for non hybrids vs hybrids. To be honest, on a track like Le Mans a non hybrid should be fastest on a hotlap than a hybrid to be on par during the race.

[ederss7]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

Toyota was not lapping 5s/lap faster in clean air. According to the lap averages posted earlier in the thread it was 2.5-3s. Which is if anything less than the gap Audi had on the field with the R8.

You obviously don't remember how utterly crushing 2000 was when everyone who wasn't an Audi fan had to pray for something to happen to them to stop a cruise to 1-2-3, then when they go and do their 5 minute gearbox changes and barely even lost any of their lead.

The winning Toyota finished 12 laps ahead of the best Rebellion, which spent 23 minutes longer in the pits. That means approximately 5,5 laps advantage by pure race pace.
2002 race vs 2018
After 2 hours: gap between the leading Audi and the rest of the field: 1:10.520;
gap between Toyota and the rest: 3:08.326
It obviously needs more detailed analysis, this is just an example.

[Peter Mallett]

But, does it matter?

No disrespect but we watched some fine racing even if the two Toyotas were in a different class. You can tell I'm not really a stats man can't you?

[andrewn7]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

But, does it matter?

No disrespect but we watched some fine racing even if the two Toyotas were in a different class. You can tell I'm not really a stats man can't you?

If you are Bart Hayden, or some other team owner or funding a privateer effort, to see your cars so far off the Toyota pace must be crucifying - when you were tempted back by a "promise" of EoT equal to 0.5s/lap at LM!

[Peter Mallett]

Indeed but I and most enthusiasts are not a team owner so I'm not going to complain.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by andrewn7

If you are Bart Hayden, or some other team owner or funding a privateer effort, to see your cars so far off the Toyota pace must be crucifying - when you were tempted back by a "promise" of EoT equal to 0.5s/lap at LM!

Take it from me, that wasn't what Bart expected at all.

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

But, does it matter?

No disrespect but we watched some fine racing even if the two Toyotas were in a different class. You can tell I'm not really a stats man can't you?

There are at least two of us in that club, Peter......

[fieldodreams79]

Stats are fun, but they can say whatever you want them to say and don't have a "human" element.

That said, me like cool cars. Me like cool cars that go fast for long time. Besides, it beat having to talk to my wife's family for 24 hours...

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Stats are fun, but they can say whatever you want them to say and don't have a "human" element.

That said, me like cool cars. Me like cool cars that go fast for long time. Besides, it beat having to talk to my wife's family for 24 hours...

I take it that Mrs FoD isn't a member here......?

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Stats are fun, but they can say whatever you want them to say and don't have a "human" element. .

It is of course a well known fact that 99% of statistics are made up on the spot.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

It is of course a well known fact that 99% of statistics are made up on the spot.

Not according to Todd Snider and to go just a little further...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT9y1PtENsU

They say 65 percent of all statistics
Are made up right there on the spot
82.4 percent of people believe 'em
Whether they're accurate statistics or not
I don't know what you believe
But I do know there's no doubt
I need another double-shot of something 90 proof
I got too much to think about

And 70 percent of all statisticians truly hate their job.

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I take it that Mrs FoD isn't a member here......?

Mrs. Field isn't, but she's one very patient lady, who knows the deal by now...

[chernaudi]

Just a stat for fans of Japanese motorsport: Kaz Nakajima is now only the latest of 11 drivers who contested in Super GT/JGTC to have won Le Mans outright. That's actually quite a list of legends, which happens to include among others, Tom Kristensen.